The Global Mobile Phone Market Has High Growth And Hidden Worries, And The Pattern May Change In The Second Half Of The Year

The mobile phone market always staged a "battle of gods". In the first quarter of 2021, the competition is also fierce, and the pattern continues to change.

According to IDC data, Samsung returned to the first place with 75.3 million units and 21.8% market share, while Apple ranked second with 55.2 million units and 16.0% market share. Huawei fell out of the top five for the first time in many years after being hit hard by the increasing U.S. sanctions.

Chinese brands Xiaomi, oppo and vivo benefited from the trend, and their market share increased compared with the previous quarter, ranking third, fourth and fifth in the world with 14.1%, 10.8% and 10.1% market share respectively.

On the whole, the global mobile phone market ushered in high growth. According to IDC data, the recovery momentum of the smartphone market accelerated in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of 25.5%, and the total shipment volume of smartphone manufacturers reached 346 million units.

It should be pointed out that such a high growth rate is based on the low base during the epidemic last year. However, Nabila popal, director of global mobile device research at IDC, believes that the growth still has gold content, because compared with the first quarter (1q19) two years ago, the shipment volume also increased by 11%. This growth comes from the suppressed replacement cycle for many years and the promotion of 5g products.

At the same time, the supply and demand of mobile phone supply chain is still very tight, which will affect the next shipment. According to sigmaitell, with the outbreak of the epidemic in India, there are many uncertain factors in the global smartphone market demand, and the trend of the future smartphone market will be restricted. According to the prediction of group intelligence consulting, the global smartphone market shipment scale is expected to be 1.32 billion units in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of about 5.9%, with a decrease of 30 million units compared with the previous forecast.

The supply and demand of mobile phone supply chain is still very tight, which will affect the next shipment. IC photo

Rank change: a few happy and a few sad

In the current mobile phone market, Huawei is naturally the biggest variable. Not long ago, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, wrote in a circle of friends: "in less than two years, the United States has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Huawei... Forcing Huawei's consumer business to the point where it is extremely difficult to deliver goods, and the high-end products are mainly given to apple." He further said that the high-end of Huawei's mobile phone tablet Market in China was transferred to apple, the medium and low-end products were transferred to oppo, vivo and Xiaomi, and overseas to apple, Samsung and its domestic counterparts.

IDC pointed out that Xiaomi, oppo and vivo are also making continuous efforts in the international market where Huawei's share has grown rapidly in recent years, and has benefited the most from the low and medium-end market due to Huawei's decline. Apple and Samsung occupy most of the high-end segment of the international market.

Taking foreign markets as an example, according to canalys data, the top five mobile phone markets in Europe in the first quarter were Samsung, Xiaomi, apple, oppo and Huawei. Among them, Samsung increased by 21%, millet by 85%, apple by 22% and oppo by 153%.

In the Chinese market, data from several institutions show that oppo, vivo and Xiaomi have competed for the top three places in recent months, among which oppo and vivo take turns to be the first in China. According to canalys data, vivo ranked first in China with 23% share in this quarter, while oppo ranked first with 24.2% in group intelligence consulting data, with a similar share. Overall, Xiaomi ranks the third in the world, and the greater increment comes from overseas. Oppo and vivo have gained more shares in China.

While Apple and Samsung continue to attack the international market. IDC analysis shows that although Apple's market share has declined compared with the previous strong peak season, the iPhone 12 series continues to be successful; Samsung's new S21 series performed well, mainly due to its successful pricing strategy of $100 lower than last year's flagship product.

Apple, in particular, has made super high profits in the Chinese market. Specifically, Apple's revenue in the second quarter of 2021 was $89.584 billion, an increase of 54% year-on-year. Among them, the total revenue of iPhone was $47.938 billion, up 65.52% year-on-year, accounting for about 65% of Apple's revenue in the second quarter. The Chinese market and 5g mobile phone sales are two important factors. Apple's revenue in Greater China in the second quarter was 17.728 billion US dollars, an increase of 87% year-on-year. In the 5g market, apple entered the latest stage, but in about half a year, its market share was the first. The latest research by strategy analytics pointed out that the rapid adoption of 5g technology in China promoted the demand for 5g smart phones. Apple and domestic manufacturers oppo, vivo and Xiaomi benefited the most. Apple's global 5g mobile phone market share reached 30.2% in the first quarter.

Even more surprising, Apple's net profit in the second quarter of fiscal year reached $23.63 billion (about 152.7 billion yuan), up 110% year-on-year. In contrast, Apple's net profit in one quarter is almost equal to Tencent's net profit in the previous year (about 159.847 billion yuan, 24.498 billion US dollars). As mentioned in the previous analysis, after Huawei is under pressure, Apple has made more profits in the high-end market.

New starting point: the new choice of giants

Mobile phone market growth at the same time, a new round of qualifying is starting. "While Huawei continues to suffer from the downturn, LG is also withdrawing completely from the smartphone market," said Ryan Reith, vice president of IDC's global mobile device tracking program. Most of LG's sales come from the Americas, with more than 50% in North America and 30% in Latin America. Although LG has lost some positions in recent years, it still occupies 9% of the North American market and 6% of the Latin American market. The withdrawal of LG and Huawei will create some direct opportunities for other brands. The competition is more intense than ever, especially in the low-end market. To be sure, 6-10 brands are eyeing this market. "

In addition, glory is also getting ready to go. Zhao Ming, CEO of glory, also said to the public that there is no starvation in the mobile phone market, only those who can survive. He compares the current situation to "the darkest time before dawn", and new supplies are beginning to climb.

In addition to the main battle field of mobile phones, brand manufacturers are opening a new battlefield and exploring new paths. Mobile phone companies are not limited to mobile phones, they are developing to integrated hardware companies. From the release of each company this year, the head manufacturers have implemented different strategies.

After years of planning, Apple has become a blockbuster by using M1 chip to connect mobile phones, tablets and computers. Cook, who has suffered a lot of controversy, is leading apple to carry out a revolution from the bottom to a true unity of software and hardware ecology. Because IMAC uses the same chip architecture as the iPhone and iPad, it can be unified at the hardware level. Some people in the software industry pointed out to reporters that now the software needs to be more closely linked with the chip. In the future, Apple should further get through with the software level.

Samsung Group also continued to strengthen in the chip field, and radical expansion, the mobile phone business will also benefit. Recently, Samsung is cooperating more with Intel on computer products and adjusting the Note Series on mobile phones. Gao Dongzhen, Samsung's co CEO and head of mobile business, said at the annual shareholders' meeting that Samsung might decide to postpone the release of the new Galaxy note phone.

As far as Huawei's current goal is concerned, smart cars have become the most concerned incremental market. Huawei's offline flagship store of mobile phones has introduced automobile brands and started auto sales business. Xiaomi chose to build cars directly. It is estimated that 10 billion yuan will be invested in the first phase, and 10 billion US dollars will be invested in ten years to support the development of automobile business. Recently, there is also a message that oppo may enter the automobile field. The new energy vehicle market is huge, and mobile phone manufacturers are starting from different industrial chains.

In the circle, the ups and downs and alternation of mobile phone brands are common in the industry, so-called "nothing new under the sun". A mobile phone industry personage pointed out to the 21st century economic reporter: "although Huawei has been suppressed and there are variables, overall, the top brands in the mobile phone market have been relatively stable. Mobile phone is a big market, but in recent years, there are few challengers. Most of the new brands are in the operation of head enterprises. The market share is relatively stable, and the profit distribution is also relatively stable. In fact, the mobile phone production mode has been basically fixed, and the industry development highly depends on the industrial chain. After so many years of tempering, China's mobile phone market has become the largest manufacturer of mobile phones. But now, our greater challenge lies in technological breakthroughs such as chips. After entering the automobile industry, we will also face the problem of core devices, and we still need to promote more innovation. "